Trained as an illustrator, Muriel King began creating dresses for herself in the early 1930s. Her clean designs and deft treatment of pattern were immediately popular as “day-into-evening” styles which, both economical and practical, could carry a woman through her day with only a change of accessories. By 1932, large department stores such as Lord & Taylor and Marshall Field & Co. began to carry her garments. A champion of a unique American style, King described the appeal of her designs as “Our natural look is our national charm.”